Long term antidepressants prescribing in the Psychiatry Department at Riyadh Military Hospital. Cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To ascertain the long-time presenting patients on antidepressant at Riyadh Military Hospital.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Psychiatric Department, Riyadh Military Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from July 2009 to September 2010. Patients' files were randomly searched for patients who were on antidepressant >/=18 months, were aged >/=18 years, and undergoing psychiatric consultation. Then the patient pharmacotherapy regimens were extracted, including the antidepressants and duration of antidepressant prescribing.

RESULTS: Of the 120 patients files we searched, the duration of antidepressant prescribing ranged from one to more than 6 years; 20% were prescribed for 2-3 years, 19.2% for 3-4 years, 18.3% for 1-2 years, 16.7% for more than 5 years, and 12.5% for 4-5 years.

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, more than 60% of the patients were taking the antidepressant for more than 2 years. While antidepressants are the gold standard therapy for depression, long term prescribing needs to be reasonable. Antidepressant medication generally should be taken for 6-9 months after a first episode of depression.